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Chapter 5: Coill Beag to Inis Uí Chuinn
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To the west of the Galway road, near where it joins that of Killursa, may be seen a remarkable ancient enclosure, with several standing stones circling the brow of a small hill, and called Lisín na Péiste, or the "little fort of the serpent," or worm. Killursa--properly Cill Fhursa, in commemoration of Fursaeus, a celebrated Irish saint and traveller--margins Loch Coirib, in continuation of Cairrgín, on the south; and forms the terminal parish of the barony of Clare, and county of Galway, on its eastern shore. Its northern boundary is the Abhainn Dubh, or "Black River," which, passing under ground below Shrule, rises again to the surface to the east of the castle of Moyne, and, running by the ruins of Ross, enters the lake about a mile beyond the castle of Annakeen. Irish hagiology abounds with notices of the Christian celebrities of this district in the sixth and seventh centuries. In the large island of Inchiquin, belonging to this parish, and now on our starboard quarter, it is stated that St. Brendan founded a religious establishment, which was afterwards increased by St. Maeldun, of the Ua Cuinn family, from which the Island of Inis Uí Chuinn took its name. Fintán, King of Munster, with his Queen, Gelgéis, daughter of the King of Connacht, in consequence of some troubles in his province, fled to Loch Coirib, and was hospitably entertained by his relative, Brendan; and while residing with him in his Cella Hospitum at Rathmath, in Inchiquin, had a son, who was christened Fursa, or Fursaeus.He flourished between A.D. 584 and 652, and his festival is kept on the 16th of January; but several other days are given in Irish ecclesiastical writings for that event.He is said traditionally to have had two brothers, Enda or Éanna, and Cuana, who have given names to the adjoining parishes of Killeany and Kilcuana, as stated at page 35. Killursa is now united with Cairrgín, and also with Killannin on the opposite shore of the lake, in the Catholic Parish of Headford. |
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